U.S. Sends Rare SPR Oil Cargo to Asia as Hormuz Crisis Reshapes Trade

A tanker loaded with crude oil from the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve has set off from the Gulf of Mexico to the Philippines in what is the first U.S. oil shipment to Asia since late 2022, Reuters reported, citing shipping data. The rare move yet again highlights the rearrangement of energy flows resulting from the shutdown of normal tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz by Iran and the United States. Prior to the war, Asia got as much as 80% of its crude oil from the Middle East, the report noted, with the Philippines specifically importing…